Tag Archives: cyberbullying

Students at St. Luke School in Whitestone are under a cyberbullying attack.

Recently one rogue Instagram account called StLukeIdiots started posting pictures on the social media service of students from the Catholic school, using vulgar descriptions and wishing for some kids’ deaths.

“These kids are all ugly and fat! I’ll be posting the 6th graders that should die..,” the account StLukeidiots said in its description.

“It’s absolutely disgusting,” O’Connor said. “It’s not nice. It’s cyberbullying. Who knows where this could lead? This needs to stop.”

Welcome to Whitestone posted the Instagram account to its Facebook page on Saturday night, and since then residents and parents have been reporting the account to Instagram administrators to force it to stop.

“Please go on Instagram and report this account: @stlukeidiots. This is cyber bullying and we cannot allow that type of behavior!”, the civic group said on its Facebook page.

While residents and students still don’t know who is controlling the StLukeIdiots account, there has been a friendlier account started called the Stlukebeauties, which has been posting pictures of the students with much nicer descriptions.

The identity of the user behind the Stlukebeauties is also unknown, according to O’Connor, but the account has been posting on StLukeIdiots, asking people to follow it and others have been leaving positive comments to fight the cyberbullying.

As students, parents and educators gear up for the new school year, elected officials are tackling the growing problem of cyberbullying.

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation last month that is designed to shed light on the hazards of cyberbullying and require educators to respond to such attacks as soon as they happen.

State Senator Joseph Addabbo is applauding the move. He told The Courier that the new bill expands the definition of harassment to include cyberbullying – a form of online behavior that has become both prevalent and sometimes deadly.

“Bullying used to be a push or shove, taunting. Now it’s the push of a button,” Addabbo said. “With the click of a button, thousands, if not more, are notified of a particular nasty message.”

Even though the bill does not go into effect until July 2013, lawmakers and proponents of anti-cyberbullying will be visiting area schools this year to talk about the issue and how to address it.

“Now that the governor signed this piece of legislation we need to make sure that all schools are aware of this bill and it is implemented in a correct manner,” Addabbo said.

Jamie Isaacs, a 16-year-old girl from Long Island who had been bullied her whole life, and the president of the Jamie Isaacs Foundation for Anti-Bullying, will also be visiting schools in Queens to discuss the effects of cyberbullying.

Isaacs said she was bullied from the end of second grade until seventh grade, when she ultimately had to switch from public school to private school. She said a group of 22 students tormented her for years – physically assaulting her, destroying and stealing her property and calling her names. The harassment followed through to the Internet, where Isaacs had to change her screen name multiple times to avoid constant messages of hate.

“My parents were frequently going to the principal’s office and the school district office begging for them to do something and they refused,” Isaacs said. “District heads said, ‘They’re just being kids they’ll grow out of it.’ The school was completely negligent.”

Isaacs said she is glad to see the new law being passed because it forces educators to deal with cyberbullying.

Addabbo said that cyberbullying has become a growing issue thanks to the increase of accessibility to technology, and the results can sometimes be deadly.

He noted how research has revealed a link between cyberbullying and low self-esteem, as well as long-term consequences that include increased depression, substance use and occasionally suicide.

Addabbo said the new bill should also make parents aware. He said there are different signs of behavior that parents should look out for, including physical abuse and mental abuse.

Maria Concolino, a Woodhaven resident who has children who go to a Jamaica public school, said students have become desensitized to the harsh realities of bullying, especially with the increase of bullying on the Internet.

“If they see someone killing someone on the Internet, then when they do something like bullying and calling them names they think, ‘Well, I’m not killing them,’ ” she said. “It’s making kids numb. They don’t have that line of reality. That line is very blurred.”

At least one person is dead after a car accident in Queens that took place early Saturday morning. Police said a 24-year-old man, identified by the New York City Sanitation Department as 24-year-old Dominick Bunch, got into a fender-bender with his Toyota at Crescent Street and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. NY1

Man falls to death while working on cargo ship

A man has died after he fell while doing repair work on top of an elevator on a cargo ship in Staten Island Saturday morning. According to police, the man was working on top of an elevator on a cargo ship at the New York Container Terminal when he slipped and fell. NY1

Cuomo, lawmakers, agree on cyberbullying bill

Students in New York will learn the potentially deadly hazards of cyberbullying and school officials will be mandated to respond to the earliest reports of it, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders, who agreed Saturday to a bill on the subject. The bill defines cyberbullying as harassment, insults, taunting and threats through social media. The bill won’t, however, include a criminal charge that a senator had insisted last week is essential to curbing the rising harassment blamed on a string of teen suicides. NYPost

Elderly Bronx woman found bludgeoned to death on apartment floor

An elderly Bronx woman was found bludgeoned to death on the floor of her apartment this morning, fresh groceries strewn across the floor around her unconscious body and the front door unlocked, cops said. Evelyn Shapiro, 88, was discovered by a relative and pronounced dead on the scene by first responders who arrived at the apartment at 9:55 a.m. Saturday morning, police said.NYPost

Cops close in on Drake in bar brawl

Drake was set to take the stage at Jones Beach Saturday night under suspicion he instigated a bottle-throwing club brawl with rival rapper Chris Brown.But he didn’t appear worried Friday night, dining with an entourage of 12 at the lower East Side restaurant, Sons of Essex. “They were really laid back and chill, having a good time,” said a source who saw Drake and his posse at the Essex St. eatery.NYDailyNews